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IDER Mission of Disaster Management Specialists to the Philippines

As a result of an initiative by The Philippines' Ambassador to Sweden at the International Disaster and Emergency Resilience (IDER) conference in October 2009, Simon Langdon, chairman of IDER, was invited to take a 'Group of Disaster Management Specialists' to The Philippines to study the impact and response to the typhoons and other major events which frequently cause devastation across the country. The Philippine National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), under its Executive Officer General Glenn Rabonza, welcomed the initiative and hosted the mission which took place from 29 - 31 March 2010.
The Philippines is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world sitting on the western fringes of the Pacific Ring of Fire with 20 active volcanoes. Earthquakes and eruptions are therefore quite frequent. The country is also in the typhoon belt and in October 2009, severe flooding and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma caused more than $30m worth of damage to health facilities alone and affected 8.4m people, with 250,000 being forced to stay in evacuation centres. The need for disaster management preparedness and international support is extreme.

Objective of the Mission

The objective of the Mission was to assist The Philippines in improving their disaster preparedness and enhance their national readiness, response and recovery to natural disasters.

The mission was entirely self funded by the organisations taking part; an indication of their commitment and their view of the importance of the task.

Members of the International Team

The international team of disaster managers who took part in the mission came from the following organisations:

CEDARthree, Red Cross, Swedish Civil Contingencies Secretariat (MSB), Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), CS&A (Belgium), Health Protection Agency (HPA), Global Foodbanking Networks (United States) and Mott MacDonald

Mission Programme

Over a three day period the group were briefed by and held workshops with the NDCC, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). They also visited Marikina City to hear at first hand the impact of the 23 metre flood that swamped the city's streets and buildings last September.

Mission Report

The outcome of the mission will be to produce a report and practical advice for the development of the Philippine's overall resilience to disasters however they might be caused. It is envisaged that this will lead to a programme of focused support and aid.

For further information on the mission and its outcomes please contact Simon Langdon, CEDARthree Limited
simon.langdon@cedarthree.co.uk
www.cedarthree.co.uk
IDER

IDER 2010

The 11th annual IDER will be in late September or October 2010. The dates and location for IDER 2010, and a Call for Papers, will be announced by the end of February.

IDER 2009 in Karlstad, Sweden on 20/21 October.

The 10th IDER was hosted by MSB (Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency) and took place on Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st October 2009 at the Värmlands Museum, Karlstad, Sweden. The Conference was co-chaired by Mette Lindahl Olsson, Head of Natural Hazards & Critical Infrastructure Section at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and Simon Langdon, Director of CEDARThree Ltd.

IDER is supported by the European Commission, MSB (Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency), International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Management (ICPEM) and the European Training & Simulation Association (ETSA). IDER is the conference and exhibition where best practice for readiness, response and recovery for disasters and major emergencies are identified and implemented.

Join the IDER Group on LinkedIn

If you have a professional interest in the readiness for and the the effective response to disasters and major emergencies, you are invited to apply to join the IDER group on LinkedIn. This will give you the opportunity to network with fellow professionals from around the world.

Created on 2003-02-04 10:24:27 by admin
Updated on 2010-04-19 18:13:01 by Admin

Profile of Simon Langdon, IDER 2009 Co-Chairman

Simon Langdon is the Conference Co-Chairman for IDER 2009 in Karlstad, Sweden.

Simon is Director of CEDARthree Limited, the crisis management specialists. He was the CIR Business Continuity Consultant of the Year, 2005 and, during his career, he has developed crisis management, business continuity, disaster recovery and security plans for major organisations and government bodies in UK and internationally.

He is an acknowledged authority on crisis management and has worked with a number of major international organisations and multi-nationals and has conducted disaster management exercises in UK, Europe and the Middle East. Simon advised and developed the Command and Control plans for both Railtrack and British Airways (BA) for the Millennium Transition. He has developed and exercised UK national crisis management plans within the aviation industry, the strategic road network and the rail industry and was operationally involved in the rail industry response to the Potters Bar rail crash in May 2002. His previous career was in the Army where he gained considerable experience working closely with the Emergency Services on anti-terrorist operations.